


Decreasing orbit

by gottalovev



Category: Fantastic Four, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: First Kiss, Flirting, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining, a hydra agent commits suicide, hydra facility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 00:03:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6172060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gottalovev/pseuds/gottalovev
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Johnny seems to reduce the radius of how far they stand next to each other every time they meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Decreasing orbit

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was initially written for Day 5 of SpideyTorch Week, where the theme was 'Space'. Unfortunately I missed the deadline, and then procrastinated after I got the fic back from beta. oops.
> 
> Set in an ambiguous MCU universe, post CA: TWS where everyone - Avengers, Spider-Man, the F4 - know one another and work together. Ahhh. What a nice idea, no? ;) 
> 
>  
> 
> Warnings vs possible triggering element, as mentioned in the tags (spoilers) 
> 
> As said in the tags, Hydra is mentioned in the fic. There are more details/spoilers in the end notes if needed.

"You should have gotten one, it's great," Johnny says.

Peter doesn't look at him to reply. He definitely does _not_ need to see Johnny Storm licking his vanilla ice cream cone lewdly again. He made that mistake a minute ago and spandex will be terrible at concealing his probable reaction at a repeat of the display.

"I can't with the suit," he says, gesturing at the mask. It's the truth, after all.

"We could have found a quiet place for you to eat it. I think it's possible for you to enjoy the good things in life AND protect your secret identity," Johnny argues.

Peter snorts-laughs. "I'll get one later, don't worry your pretty head about it. Delayed gratification, it's a thing."

It makes Johnny laughs. "Yeah, it can be really fun! I'm a fan."

It's impossible to avoid a quick side-glance at him. Everyone knows that Johnny Storm flirts like breathing; it's just how he is. He's been particularly relentless lately. Case in point the way he looks at Peter while licking melted ice cream from his fingers. There is no way it's unintentional, and Peter doesn't know what to do with that information. Did Johnny notice Peter's crush? He'd been afraid to strain their friendship with his feelings... but maybe instead of being uncomfortable with them, Johnny is interested back? It's an unexpected – and exhilarating – possibility.

He should go home, think about it. Maybe devise a strategy to test the hypothesis. Peter hadn't even planned hanging out with the guy tonight, but they crossed paths on patrol. And now here they are, walking down Northern Boulevard in Queens, after Johnny insisted on getting ice cream at this place he knows. It speaks to the nature of New Yorkers that the Human Torch and Spider-Man walking casually down the street doesn't draw much attention. Well, apart from the understandably interested looks at Johnny and his ice cream. They are walking closer to each other than can be casually explained, too, elbows or shoulders constantly bumping. That is new, too. Johnny seems to reduce the radius of how far they stand next to each other every time they meet.

There's a tingling at Peter's nape and his attention is automatically diverted. It's because of a man, medium build, walking half a block ahead of them. He is mostly unremarkable, but when he throws a look at them over his shoulder, Peter realizes the expression on the man's face is nervousness.

"Hey, Flamebrain," Peter asks, nudging Johnny with his elbow. "Why would a good citizen be worried that we're walking behind him?"

Johnny hums. "Well, you do have a terrible reputation." He spots the guy, who starts walking faster. Suspicious it is. "Wanna go ask him?"

"Wouldn't hurt to check it out."

"Hey, sir!" Johnny calls out, throwing his almost finished ice cream in a nearby trashcan. "Wait up!"

The man, predictably, bolts. It's a tricky situation because he hasn't done anything wrong that they know of. Maybe it's just a guy with a phobia of superheroes. If they chase him down and it turns out to be nothing, Peter is convinced that somehow it's going to end up on the news. Johnny doesn't seem to care, and starts running after the man. With a curse, Peter throws a string and swings in pursuit. The man has turned in an alley usually closed by a gate and is frenetically trying to open a door when they reach him. His eyes widen, and Peter is about to tell Johnny to go easy when the man draws a gun and points it at them. That changes everything.

"Stay away!" the man shouts.

A panicked perp with a gun is dangerous, and Johnny is way too close. Peter immediately throws webbing at the gun to stick it to the cement wall beside the door. If the man's hand is still attached and it incapacitates him, too, then so be it.

"That never stops being cool," Johnny says as the man struggles to break free. "Why the threats, man? We just wanted to talk."

"You will never get information from me!" The man says, the white of his eyes visible all around his irises. Okay, so they have a paranoid case on their hands. It's confirmed when he adds. "Hail Hydra!" and promptly starts foaming at the mouth and convulsing.

"Are you kidding me?" Johnny says. He rushes to the man and tries to pry his mouth open. It's too late, though, and the guy now hangs limp and very dead. "Well fuck."

Peter takes his cell phone out and hits speed dial 3, 'Steve R'. It is very cool to conveniently have Cap on speed dial in situations like this.

"One day, you'll have to tell me where you hide that thing!" Johnny exclaims. "Your fucking suit is skin tight, why doesn't it show?"

Peter is chuckling when the line is picked up after only two rings.

"Hi Peter!"

"Hey Cap! It seems we've stumbled on a subpar Hydra operative, down in Queens."

He knew that was a good lead in: Cap doesn't disappoint, immediately focused and no nonsense about it. "Where?"

"An alley, off Northern Boulevard, right after 149th street. On the left, just before the laundromat. You can't miss it, there's a dead guy at the door."

Door that Johnny is getting opened right now, with the key that the Hydra agent dropped to the ground in his freak out.

"What?"

"Not our fault, cyanide," Peter says. By the way he's peering in, Johnny plans to enter without backup. Peter needs to follow to make sure he doesn’t get in trouble; he doesn't like having him out of his sight. "See you soon!"

"Peter, w-"

Pffeeew, Peter disconnected just in time. It's not disobeying a direct order if he didn't actually hear said order. Oh, he'll get the lecture anyway, that's for sure, but he'll live with it. He puts the phone on silent – it's a security measure! He wouldn’t want to give up their position to other Hydra agents if it rings! – and puts it back into the special pocket at his belt. It's an ultra-thin StarkPhone and the suit's configuration and pattern does a great job of concealing it. No matter what Johnny says it shows a little bit, but's been fun bantering about it for months.

Peter quickly cocoons the Hydra guy; it will be less traumatizing a sight if he's found than a body hanging out by a hand, face contorted by poison. He also throws webbing down to the mouth of the alley to close the gate, so hopefully he won't be seen at all but for Cap when he gets here.

"Wait up," Peter shouts to Johnny. 

The door leads into an almost bare room, with old wooden floor and peeling paint. It only contains an ugly Formica desk and an orange chair that has seen better days. There are no decorations at all, not even a calendar, a carpet, or a hook to hang up a coat near the door. 

"What the hell?" Johnny says. At the desk, he takes out a battered Sudoku puzzle book and a pencil from the drawer and waves them at Peter. "This makes no sense."

"There must be more," Peter says. It has to be a bogus room hiding a secret one.

The walls have no cracks apart the ones due to neglect, so Peter suspects there must be a trap door hidden in the floor. He starts systematically crawling across it. There should be a hidden hold, a creaky plank or a wider gap between the wooden slates. Johnny does the same from his end and soon calls out.

"Hey, Pete, I think I've found it." He's over by the desk. "Help me push it to the side."

Hardly noticeable if you aren't looking for it, the trap door is blocked by the surprisingly heavy desk. When they pull it open, there's a stairway that leads to a dark corridor below. 

"Can you hear anything?" Johnny asks.

"No voices. Faint whirring, probably machines. That's about it," Peter says. "Pretty sure it's empty."

"Okay then. Let's go." Johnny doesn't wait, immediately walking down the stairs.

Peter knows Steve will chew him out just for entering the place, so better at least see what Hydra is hiding. He cannot perceive any danger, at least nothing immediate. Nonetheless Peter uses the ceiling of the corridor to advance. No one checks the ceilings, and it has given him a slight advantage many times.

"You're weird, sometimes, you know that?" Johnny says as he walks directly under him, craning his head up to look at Peter.

"Says the guy currently holding a fireball and using it as a flashlight," Peter counters.

"At least it's cool."

It's practical, Peter has to give him that. It becomes rapidly clear that they are not in a corridor as much as in a tunnel. It's bare save from old-school light fixtures, and stretches for several hundred meters. The more they walk, the louder the whirring sounds become. The glow of Johnny's fireball doesn't reach their destination yet, and the atmosphere is stuffy.

"I don't know what the paranoid idiot was guarding, but I bet there hasn't been anyone down here in a long time," Peter says.

"Yeah, seems about right. Oh, hey, here we are."

There's a door, unlocked, that they have to pull. The darkness of the room they find is broken by rows of lit up buttons. Johnny extinguishes his fireball once Peter activates the light switch that bathes the place with a sickly yellow light. It's a medium-sized room, with two sides taken by seriously old computers. It looks like the first Altas models, with drums for extended memory. But what immediately draws their eyes, ominous, is a chair with contraptions hooked to more equipment. A shiver goes down Peter's spine just looking at it, and Johnny whistles.

"Oh shit. Is this what I think it is?"

"Afraid so," Peter says. 

Cap is going to throw a fit. Or his shield. (Probably both). When that happens, unfortunately sometimes information that could have been useful is lost. Peter approaches what seems to be the main computer terminal. Pressing the space key does bring the monitor to life, but only reveals a black screen with a green blinking cursor.

"Of course." This place seems frozen in the sixties.

"I'll do a perimeter sweep," Johnny says.

"Don't leave without telling me," Peter says. 

Johnny can take care of himself, but it's only the two of them for now, and Peter would prefer no nasty surprises. He types basic commands on the computer and watches the results scroll slowly down the screen.

"There's nothing here," Johnny says after a couple of minutes. He's standing right behind Peter's back, and leans to cross his forearms on the back of the chair to look over his shoulder. "Two more doors, empty corridors, going in different directions."

"Do you think there are empty rooms with stupid Hydra agents on the other side of them?" Peter asks. 

Dammit, it's hard to maintain any concentration with Johnny leaning against him like this. His elevated body temperature is impossible to ignore. Or it's just that Johnny Storm, breathing right next to you ear, simply dooms any productive neural activity. 

"I'd think so," Johnny says. "We should avoid disturbing them before Cap and friends arrive."

"Keep them as a distraction?" Peter asks. The mind sweep chair is bound to work Cap up, he'll need to vent.

"Won't hurt to have the option," Johnny says.

"Yeah. He's going to give me hell, coming in without backup."

It makes Johnny laugh. "Well, just say that you had to follow because I came in on my own. On top of being the actual truth, it should be enough so that at least you can avoid Cap's 'I am disappointed in you' face."

"I don't know how you can stand it," Peter says. It's like The Look glides off Johnny's back like water on a duck.

"What? Man, I feel six inches tall every time," Johnny admits with a shudder. "The Face is even worse than when Sue does it, for crying out loud."

"Seriously? I would never would have guessed," Peter says. 

Peter prompts the ancient computer, and the first file he tries to poke into says 'Asset'. There's another labeled 'WS' that he'll get to as soon as possible. If they have any information on Cap's friend remains to be seen.

"No one is immune to that look, Pete," Johnny says. 

He moves forward even more and rests his chin on Peter's shoulder, which makes him tense up. It's like Johnny just cannot grasp the concept of a personal bubble.

"You're sure that there's nothing else but the chair and the computers here?" Peter says, a bit desperate. Fuck, he has trouble breathing normally, for crying out loud. He's overheating, so he rips off his mask, puts it on the desk.

"Yep," Johnny says. God, taking off the mask was a mistake because now Peter can feel Johnny's breath on his neck. "No cryochamber. No cabinets with files. No personal items, or even pseudo legitimate explanation for the place."

"Okay," Peter says. He has to erase a line of command because he made a stupid mistake at the start of it. If he wants to gather any useful information, he needs for Johnny to give him some space. "Hum. Maybe you could check if Cap is coming, so I have a head's up?"

"My, it's like you are trying to get rid of me, Mister Parker," Johnny says, sounding amused. He's not backing up, not one fraction of an inch.

Peter decides to go with honesty. "You are very distracting."

"Am I?" The teasing is good-natured, but Peter isn't sure he's capable of banter right now. "Good distracting or just plain annoying?"

"It's always a bit of both with you," Peter says, trying his best. 

"If it's any consolation, I'm aiming for good distracting."

There it is again, the all-out flirting. This whole day has been one relentless tease after another. Peter stops even trying to work on the computer; he hangs his head and sighs. 

"Just- What is it you want, Johnny?"

Johnny scoffs. "I've been very clear about what I want, Peter. I'm just waiting for you to make up your mind and decide if you're interested enough to do something about it." 

"Oh, I noticed how you're hitting on me," Peter says. It might have taken him a little while to take it seriously, but it's been blatant.

"Finally. Subtle really goes over your head."

"I am not sure you even know what subtle means," Peter says, rolling his eyes.

"Peter, I've been flirting with you for over a year," Johnny says, exasperated. He straightens up and finally backs off, taking several steps back. Peter is immediately aware that he didn't want that, not really. "I thought you were willfully ignoring it because you weren't interested."

"A year!" Peter exclaims, twisting the chair around. He looks up at Johnny, aghast. A year ago he didn't even think about Johnny that way, not yet. "You're shitting me!"

Johnny laughs. "No, no I am not. Come on, Pete. I kept taking you out to eat and for drinks. And what about cuddling up to you when we watched movies?"

He's blushing bright red, Peter is sure of it. "For the food and drinks, I thought it was because you pitied my budget. And the cuddling was deliberate, really? You've always been touchy-feely, I just thought-" 

"I've always been touchy-feely with _you_ ," Johnny says, shaking his head fondly. "Ever seen me cuddle with anyone I wasn't going out with? Anyhow, I was sure I had a snowball's chance in hell, and then you finally started looking back."

"Oh," Peter says. He might have been slow on the uptake. "But that brings us back to my question. What do you want? Just a hook up? Some sort of friends with benefits arrangement? More?"

"Whatever you'll give me," Johnny says with a little smile, shrugging up one shoulder. 

It looks casual, but it's far from the supremely confident Johnny that Peter has come to expect in every situation. He's visibly weary, as if bracing for disappointment. Or no, that's not it, he's resigned, as if he assumes Peter will just want a quick fuck and will then call it a day. 

"Jesus Christ," Peter says, dragging his hand down his face. "That's not an answer, not really. Tell me what you want, Johnny. Please. Let's not start this with miscommunication."

Johnny has brightened up visibly at the 'start this' and it's like a switch has been flipped. He prowls back to Peter and doesn't stop until he's straddling him on the chair. It's like all the air leaves Peter's lungs at once. His heart is beating double time when Johnny cradles Peter's head in his hands and leans in, whispering against his lips.

"You. I want you," he says, before kissing Peter to within an inch of his life. It's a no holds barred kiss: deep, wet and so full of intent that it obliterates everything else. Johnny tastes of vanilla ice cream, and Peter is certain that he'll associate the flavor to this moment for the rest of his life.

They are both panting when Johnny pulls back and rests their foreheads together. "I want everything," Johnny adds fervently. "I want to make you laugh when you're too serious. I want us to keep watching each other's back, always. I want to take you on dates, show off the cute, smart, sarcastic guy on my side. I still want to cuddle watching movies, but with your fingers in my hair. Eventually I'd want to start and end my days with you. Prove that Ben isn't made of rock but of hardened marshmallow by making him cry at our wedding. I want for us to find a surrogate and end up with a brown-eyed baby who climbs up the walls. I want us to still make each other crazy when we're old and wrinkly. I want it all, Pete."

He says it all with his eyes closed up tight and so frigging serious that it blows Peter's mind, renders him speechless. 

"Fuck, Johnny," he croaks. 

It makes Johnny smile and open his eyes, so clear and beautiful, sparkling with mischief. He kisses Peter again, pulls away while biting his lower lip.

"Yeah. I want that too. I want quickies after a battle when we're still jacked on adrenaline, and marathon sex when we have a day off. I want us to have angry sex when we fight, but make love when we make up. I want regular sex, blowjobs in the shower, kinky shit where you web my hands to the headboard. There's no end to what I want, Peter. I know it's a lot. But the real question is: what do _you_ want? If I just didn't scare you off with all of that, of course." His smile has turned wry.

What is there to say? Maybe he hadn't thought about them this far down the line, but every image Johnny summoned with his passionate speech made Peter yearn. He wants to be worthy of sentiments this strong, and give back just as much. 

"I'll take it all," Peter says, dead serious. He drags his fingers reverently on the edge of Johnny's jaw, and he can't help the thud of his heart as Johnny beams. "Everything. I want all of that, too. I love you."

Johnny does a fist pump. "Yesss!" 

Peter's laugh is caught by another kiss, one full of joy, relief and promises to come. Of course he's in love with Johnny. How could he have missed it? It's been way more than a crush for a long time. How could he be so stupid and not realize Johnny Storm is in love with him back? 

"I hate to interrupt this, but I can only hold back Captain America for so long."

Peter and Johnny snap their head towards the door, and see that Sam Wilson is, indeed, holding onto Steve's arm. Cap looks part amused but also impatient to come in. From that spot in the doorway it seems he hasn't seen the chair yet.

"Look, I'm happy that you boys finally got things sorted out," Steve says. "But maybe keep it for later?"

Peter feels as if he's been caught fooling around by his dad, and his face is probably bright red. As for Johnny, he reflexively holds Peter a little tighter, as if he loathes the idea of letting go at all.

"Awww, come on," he says. "You are cramping my style here, guys. This is important!"

"I'm pretty sure you secured the deal, Johnny," Sam says.

"Oh, god," Peter says, letting his forehead fall to Johnny's shoulder. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Pretty much from the brown-eyed baby climbing up the walls part," Steve says, grinning.

Sam eyebrows rise up. "Wow, really? Oh, right, super hearing. Very cute. I got the tail end of the X-rated part."

Yep, definitely mortifying. It's going to get worse if they get out of that chair; Sam and Steve barging in might have mostly killed the mood, but he still has Johnny on his lap and quite a situation in his pants.

"Can we have just a minute, please?" Peter will beg if he has to. 

"Fine," Steve allows. Sam and him go back in the corridor, thankfully closing the door behind them.

"Off, off, get up!" Peter says, pushing on Johnny's chest. 

Johnny laughs. "It's fine, Pete. They're okay with it."

"I sure hope so! But that's not the problem," Peter hisses, gesturing at his very obvious hard-on. Damn spandex. He can't help sneaking at look at Johnny's lap and God, yeah, that's distracting. Not much concealing by the F4 costumes either. 

"I knew that would be hot," Johnny remarks, eying the Peter's situation with blatant interest. "Fastest way to get rid of that problem would be blowjobs," he adds, smile devious.

"I heard that!" Steve shouts through the door, making Peter facepalm.

"It was a joke!" Peter cries back while Johnny shakes his head no, mouthing 'Not a joke!'. It sure doesn't help with the boner situation.

"Oh God, you'll be the death of me," Peter says, swiveling the chair around so he can hide under the desk. "Later? Please behave, just for a little bit, until we're out of here?"

"Okay, fine," Johnny says, kissing Peter's neck. 

He cannot resist canting his head for a proper kiss. "Thank you."

Johnny smiles down at him, happy and fond. "No, thank you. I love you too, by the way." 

He leaves after a quick peck to Peter's lips and saunters away. It figures that he isn't embarrassed by his own visible bulge. He probably thinks that since Cap and Falcon are blue-balling him, they ought to just ignore it. Peter forces his eyes back to the computer, and tries once more to get something useful out of it.

"Now, Cap, before you get in here," Johnny says, opening the door a crack. "Take a deep breath and find a nice place in your head. Maybe how you can learn from my game and start working on your own happy ending with adopted babies."

It has the opposite effect than intended and Steve is getting worked up. "What is it, Storm?" 

"Easy, easy," Johnny says as he opens the door fully, as if soothing a horse. Peter smiles; he's one of a kind, for sure. 

"Son of a bitch." 

Yep, Cap has seen the chair. He seems to be reigning in his reaction, though, because no shield goes flying. 

"Peter?" he asks, instead.

"Working on it. I haven't found anything yet, but I think there might be something," Peter says. 

Johnny comes back to leans against Peter's chair, chin on his shoulder once more. This time the lack of space and contact makes Peter smile. It makes goose bumps sprout all over, too, but hey, he can live with that. 

"You've got this, baby," Johnny says with confidence.

Peter chuckles, endeared. "Pet names already?" 

"You bet, oh boyfriend of mine."

Wow, yes. Johnny Storm is his boyfriend, how surreal is that? 

"I'm okay with that; please proceed," Peter says. 

"What, none for me?" Johnny says with a pout.

"Working on it, dearest. Light of my life."

He can feel Johnny smile against his neck. "Better. Anyway, we have time."

"We do. Now let me work, I am very motivated to get out of here ASAP."

Johnny hums. "Gotcha. I'm going to annoy the good Captain instead."

"What about you aim him down one of those corridors? Punching Hydra in the face always makes him feel better."

"Yeah. Okay. I'll be right back," Johnny promises.

"Counting on it."

Peter does plan on keeping Johnny close for the foreseeable future.

**Author's Note:**

> About the Hydra situation: (SPOILERS) : Peter and Johnny stumble by accident on a Hydra agent, whom to their surprise commits suicide because he thinks they want to make him talk. They cannot stop it. The Hydra facility contains equipment related to the Winter Soldier - aka mind control chair - and it's mentioned that Steve usually react badly to it. 
> 
> A lot of love to Haldoor for the beta of this fic! thank you babe :)
> 
>  
> 
> SpideyTorch week was a blast for me (yes, I know this story is late, but it was at least written that week!). It was my first time writing Peter and Johnny and I enjoyed it a lot. I appreciate all of the support that was given to me, you rock fandom! ♥
> 
> I'm on Tumblr at [@gottalovev](http://gottalovev.tumblr.com) and I welcome new friends and asks, anytime! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this story, and I hope you enjoyed.


End file.
